Happy Birthday MLK!

Hopefully everyone enjoyed their long weekend and stayed warm and dry. Don't you just love Chicago winters? At least we have the Bears (for those of you that are fans!). Here is a look at the week ahead:

Our theme this week in reading is precipitation, with a specific focus on snow -- how timely! We spent some time today talking about the creation of snowflakes and why no two snowflakes are alike. We worked with main idea vs details while reading Snowflake Bentley. We also took a look at some snowflakes that had been magnified under a microscope. The rest of the week in reading will be spent discussing ISAT long response answers (the process of writing one), figurative language, and more work with main idea/details. We will also continue with our small group novels during our centers time.

In grammar this week, we will cover irregular verbs. Irregular verbs are verbs that do not end with -ed in the past tense. For example: The snow began to fall. (We say "began" rather than "begined").

Our spelling list this week deals with compound words. The kids took a pretest today and have their assigned spelling list in their Home Folders. They are required to do a word sort this week along with only 1 menu item for homework. Homework has been shortened due to the shortened school week. All assignments are due on Friday.

We begin Unit 6 in math this week. A parent letter that gives an overview of the unit was sent home with your child today. The first four lessons and the last lesson of unit 6 focus on understanding the division operation, developing a method for dividing whole numbers, and solving division number stories. The students will learn the partial quotients method (taught in the Chicago math program) and I will also be teaching them the traditional division method (not covered in the math program). Since traditional division is something extra that I will be teaching, there will be a few days where your child's math homework will not be in study link format. The kids will be able to choose which method is easiest for them to use and understand when completing division problems. This week we will deal with division vocabulary, writing number models, and using our multiplication facts to help us solve division problems. We will also begin talking about partial quotients division. This unit also focuses on numbers in a map coordinate and measuring angles.

We will review atoms in science and move on to simple circuits. The kids will experiment with conducting electricity by using a battery, small light bulb, and wire. We will talk about the 4 critical points for this circuit and will introduce the parts of a light bulb.

In writing the kids are working on comparing their personality to a character in the story. They are writing pieces that compare their lives to others and giving examples that SHOW a particular trait. The kids will also be working with complete subjects and complete predicates as the week goes on. We will also practice SHOWING our feelings through examples in writing.

If you haven't signed one copy of your child's midterm, please do this and send this in by Friday, January 21st.

Book orders for Scholastic are due by Friday, January 21st. You are welcome to send in your book order for me to enter, or enter your own order online.

Friday is team sports day--wear your favorite jersey or shirt to support your favorite team--GO BEARS!

I think that's it for now--if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!